Did you start shooting the wrong way?
 

After reading some of the posts on the caliber selection thread it brings to light the fact that Im not the only one who got started the wrong way and got a bad flinch to show for it.

As a real small feller I was exposed to some heavy duty recoilers and generally never used any hearing protection I can still remember shooting a 12 gauge with 3 inch mags and getting knocked flat on my can. Of course they thought it funny at the time but looking back I honestly dont think you could possibly ever do anything worse to a beginning shooter.


Like a couple of the other guys mentioned. If I dont concentrate and concentrate hard and walk thru the shot I will still flinch every time. I also have a constant buzz and ringing in my ears from those days of no hearing protection as well.

My question is how many of you started this way and still have to fight hard to break the habits those days created?

RE: Did you start shooting the wrong way?
 

If you believe you started the wrong way or have developed a flinch then start over and do it right. Go to a range with a brick of .22 and shoot, shoot and shoot some more. Go through the same procedures as if you were firing a larger cal. gun and concentrate on firing the .22. Do not fire a larger cal. gun at this time. Return to the range and repeat again. The next time at the range start with the .22 again and after awhile of shooting start with your hunting rifle again. It takes some time but you can get rid of the flinch if you concentrate on what you are doing. Give it a try, I'm sure that it will help.

RE: Did you start shooting the wrong way?
 

I started off with only a 22lr, shot for a few months then got a 30-30. I don't think that was the wrong way but i still have a slight flinch when i shoot the hunting guns.
One thing that has helped alot is wearing ear plugs under the muffs. I have much less of a flinch suggesting that at least a good portion of my flinching is due to noise and not all recoil.

RE: Did you start shooting the wrong way?
 

Ditto.

Also, my first shooting was done sitting on grandpa's lap & shooting cans & bottles out the driver's side window of his Jimmy with a .22lr. No problems there - quality time, quality instruction (save for his drunkenness...), and quality shooting. It was the centerfire shooting that boogered me up.

My Dad's not malicious, by the way. That's just how they did things when he grew up. And, as a bomber pilot for 20 years, I'm not sure how much hearing he had left, anyway.

FC

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RE: Did you start shooting the wrong way?
 

I got started right I just took a little break for about the prime 5 years from 7-12 and wasnt well coached when I came back to the game . I never shot any clays just a half a box pop cans then off to whack dove with me single shot .410 . I really did well to bad it was a 1 day thing . went straight to ducks try 1 1/8 over 27 grs of Unique in a 28 in model 12
thats an inch to long on the other end . I learned all kinds of bad habbits in the next 4 years I never did shoot that '06 even close to ok . When I was about 22 broke and to proud to ask for help , I did the best thing for my shooting that could have ever happened . I borrowed a single shot 22 and a single shot 20 ga and we ate wild meat (me ,wife,2kids) all winter and into april when the rabbit stock pile ran out . From columbus day wknd till 2/28 I shot 100 20s and 100 22shorts and had fresh meat all the time . If I evershootfor another Ruddy on pourpse somebody slap me please . LOL

RE: Did you start shooting the wrong way?
 

I guess I started out right. I started with the Daisy BB Gun then went to a pump up pellet gun then on to a 20 Ga. shotgun and 22. My first deer rifle was an eddiestone 30-06 but it was so heavy that the recoils was not bad and had a long enough barrel that the noise level was acceptable. However I did quite a bit of 22 pistol shooting without ear plugs and thats not good either.

I used to not mind the hard recoiling rifles but over time they will take their toll on the shoulders and once damaged there is no way they will ever be the same again. In most cases this is completely unnecessary as good shooting is the answer to taking big game, not more power.

RE: Did you start shooting the wrong way?
 

Believe me many people started off wrong. Heck, it's still prevalent today. I saw just last year a father telling his teenage son to practice with his deer rifle without hearing protection because in his mind you needed to practice like you hunt, which in his case is without any hearing protection.

With the advent of the limbsaver pad I see no reason why anyone would need to shoot a thumper. I've tamed down some real buggers with the turn of a screwdriver to install a pad. I reallybelieve in those limbsavers. I had a friend who just recently put one on a 375 HH and his comment was that itnowkickedless than his 270.

OBTW I see many of the 270 fans talk about it being a light recoil round. Let me tell you, one of the worst kickers I've shot was a rem 700 withno pad in 270 (ownedby my father). That sob will flat cross your eyes. Light rifle + no pad= hard thump. I'd rather shoot my 338 win w/ sims pad than his 270. I've also seen quite a few older 30-06's that would put the whammy to ya.Just my two cents.

RE: Did you start shooting the wrong way?
 

i owe it to dad. he started me out right. started shooting a BB gun soon after i could walk. then a 22lr. then a 20ga with a light load. then a 20ga with a heavy load. then a 12ga with a light load. then a 308 etc etc...i was shooting a 338RUM at 14 or 15 and loving it. i was shooting fully automatic weapons and alot of handguns since 13 or so. i owe it to dad for taking the time to do things right with me. i wouldnt be who i am today without him.

now i blame him...all i wanna do is hunt or fish or shoot...so when im blowing paychecks on a new rifle i thank him for my addictions...when i call off work to hunt because that day felt lucky i blame him....etc..:D

RE: Did you start shooting the wrong way?
 

I was started the proper way with shotguns. First a .410 single shot, then a 20gauge single shot, then a 20 gauge pump, then finally a 12 guage pump. I never even think twice about shotgun recoil.

Rifles are a different story. I shot my BB gun and open-sight, single-shot 22's all of the time growing up. I was deadly with open sights. Still am. But when it came time to start big game hunting, the hardest recoiling gun I had ever shot was a 20 guage, and I had never used a scope. My dad went out and bought a Remington Model 7 youth rifle in 7mm-08 and took me out once to shoot it. It was a really light rifle and it didn't have any sort of kick pad. At the time, we still didn't have a scope mounted on it. The first shot caught me totally off-guard. The sharp kick of the rifle was much different than the push of my shotgun, and that light little rifle bucked pretty good.

Fast forward to my first hunt. In the few months before elk season, my dad had a scope put on the rifle and he had a friend sight it in since he didn't have time. He threw the rifle in my hand and we headed up to the mountains on a late season elk hunt. As soon as we hiked into our spot, elk were everywhere, but they were all moving. A band of cows ran 50 yards in front of me, but I couldn't pick them up in my scope because I had never used a scope before. A few hours later we got about 300 yards away from a herd of about 400 cows that were filtering through the trees across the draw, but I didn't feel even remotely comfortable taking the shot. I hadn't ever even shot at 100 yards. Later that day we got up on some elk bedded in the timber and I shot at a cow that was only about 40 yards away. I don't think I even came close. The experience shattered my confidence.

The next year I went on my first antelope hunt. I still hadn't hardly ever shot the gun. To make a long story short, I missed the biggest antelope that I have ever had my cross hairs on to this day five or six times, then proceded to shoot nearly two boxes of ammo before I shot a puny little 12" buck. My confidence was thoroughly shot.

I usually don't have any issue with flinching, but to this day I always second guesse my shooting ability. The thought that I might miss is always in the back of my head. When I sight my rifles in I always think to myself "what if I wasn't shooting properly and my gun isn't really sighted in?". But as time goes on and I shoot more, I doubt myself less and less.

When I have kids of my own, they'll learn to shoot shotguns as I did, but rifles will be a different story. They'll start with BB guns, move to open-sight single-shot .22's, then to scoped .22's, then to my heavy barreled .243 with slightly reduced loads. Eventually they'll graduate to full-power .243 loads, then a 7mm-08, and finally whatever large caliber rifle they choose.